


Simple and Clean

by AJ_Box_King



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Pining, Post-Canon, Post-Squip, Slow Burn, ohh my god ny'all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 10:33:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11333988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJ_Box_King/pseuds/AJ_Box_King
Summary: Michael had a problem. He knew it, and he knew he had to fix it, but it hurt to watch his friend drift away. It hurt thinking Jeremy could disappear like last time, only without the aid of a condescending supercomputer telling him what to do. He had to grow up-- and fast, before the man dearest to him got sick of him and left for good.That wasn't exactly what was happening, but Michael didn't know that. Jeremy didn't know it either.Updates on Thursday c:





	1. ♩ That's what friends are for ♫

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! I haven't written anything in...over a year? gosh golly (and I never finished that homestuck fic whoops)
> 
> Anyway! I'm back with a completely different fandom this time around, so I hope you enjoy your stay :p

What a great day to be Michael. What a fabulous day, absolutely extraordinary. He had his favorite slushy, Spotify was hitting the mood today, and nothing could go wrong. Everything was going just dandy, as it had everyday for the past month after the deal with the Squips.

Although, he would admit he was bored. He had hoped saving everyone would have pushed him up a bit on the high school ladder, but instead it seemed like Middleborough had chosen to completely forget about the incident. Not that he wanted to be popular, of course, but it would be good practice for his destined college fame. 

Plus, being cool meant something to his bestest amigo Jeremy (even if Michael personally thought he was already the coolest dude on the planet), and it didn’t seem fair that his buddy rose just to fall squarely back down again.

Mentioned cool-uncool kid appeared in Michael’s line of sight now, obviously frazzled about something, like every morning. Probably about something small, like deciding which hall to take to class that morning, or maybe what he would eat for lunch. Michael didn’t understand why he worried that much, all he personally needed were some creature comforts from the local 7-11 and a decent soundtrack to be set. Michael swaggered up to the agitated boy.

“Hey Jer, my bud! What are we freaking out about today?”

“Michael! I think I left my script at home and we’re reading through it today and I’ve already asked Christine for like three copies and I can’t just ask her for another one,” Jeremy sputtered out, whipping around to face the shorter lad with a face like he’d just seen a ghost.

Michael noisily sucked the end of his slush, swinging his backpack around to rummage through his folders, chuckling as he pulled out a plain blue folder. “You mean this?” he asked, holding it out for Jeremy, “You left it in my basement yesterday, remember? I helped you practice for a while, after we smoked.” Jeremy quickly grabbed the folder, flipping through the papers to reassure himself that they were his script.

“Thanks Michael!” he sighed in relief, before saying in a semi-serious tone,”This is an iconic moment in our friendship. Nothing can beat this, our entire life together has been building up to this. Singular. Moment, man.” He hooked an arm around Michael’s back, jostling him closer. 

“Not even when we beat level 9 of Apocalypse of the Damned?” Michael retorted. “Lame, dude.”

Jeremy laughed “Damn, no, you’re right.” He released Michael, grabbing his stuff and closing his locker. “I’ll see you after rehearsal, right?”

Jeremy headed down the hall, leaving Michael standing there, alone, with his hand half-raised in goodbye.

“Sure..” he whispered to the back drifting away from him, slumping slightly and readjusting his bag behind him. With nothing left to do, he shuffled to class, reaching the door just as the bell rang and the morning crowd began.


	2. Michael McFLy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No chapter summary we forget what we wrote like men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I know its friday and i was supposed to post this chapter yesterday but I didn't have computer access, but better late than next week right?

Hey, eight hours without Jeremy wasn’t so bad, right? It was normal. It wasn’t their fault that none of their classes matched up this year, and their friendship was, to the outside eye, still going strong, so logically Michael had nothing to worry about.

Michael could feel that something had changed, though. It wasn’t just that they had stopped hanging out during lunch, or how Jeremy would sometimes go to other friends’ houses over the weekend instead of being attached at the hip to Michael for 48 hours.

It was how Jeremy would sometimes suddenly be surprised to see him, even if they had been together for over an hour.

It was inside jokes, once shared deftly between them, now faltered when they realized the other didn’t understand anything they were saying.

And yeah, it was the whole spending less time together thing too. Michael always knew he had been unhealthily attached to his best friend, but he figured that he would always have Jeremy by his side, so it would turn out alright.

Then Jeremy straight-up ignored him, worsening Michael’s attachment issues and leaving him grasping at straws trying to make up for lost time.

His friend wasn’t only his anymore, and he had no idea what to do about it.

“Michael, could you balance the equation on the board please?”

He had no idea what to do about that either.

 

Michael tumbled out the school gates with everyone else once the bell rang. He didn’t know what to do in the hour while he waited for Jeremy, so he figured he would hop in the PT and get some Doritos or something. Maybe his soda had arrived, he could go pick that up too. He pulled out his phone to text his soda guy, the distraction causing him to bump smack dab into someone in front of his car.

“Hey sorr- Jeremy?” Michael started, barely able to contain his happiness. “I thought you had rehearsal?”

“It got cancelled,” Jeremy answered.”Christine’s auditioning for a role in the local theatre and apparently I didn’t get the memo.” He shrugged, sheepishly, placing his hand on the passenger door while Michael fumbled for his keys. Once the car was unlocked he climbed in, relaxing into the well-worn pleather seats.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight?”

“Seatbelt.” Michael reached over, buckling Jeremy’s seatbelt for him, to Jeremy’s chagrin.

“Wow, thanks.”

“Hey, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit.” Michael pulled down the visor against the sun, putting the car in reverse.

“I don’t think Marty would have built a time machine out of a PT Cruiser, Michael.”

Michael beamed, taking off out of the parking lot. “That’s where you’re wrong”

Jeremy crossed his arms and looked out the window, watching the passing scenery, sidewalk littered with tulip tree blossoms and late dogwood.

“You never told me what we’re doing..?” he finally said, tearing his gaze back inside the car.

“What we always do, Jerbear,” Michael replied, glancing at Jeremy. “We’ll own at games for a while and then maybe eat out half the fridge. I got mamon last night after you left,” he offered, watching Jeremy perk up from the corner of his eye at the promise of the buttery sponge cake.

“With cheese?”

Michael’s smile grew even wider. “Hell yeah dude!”

“Hell yeah!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think i'm gonna write the next chapter in Jeremy's point of view and kinda switch off every two chapters? Kinda wanted to keep this as much in Michael's point of view as possible tho so :/ we'll see what happens
> 
> thanks to the 8 people who left kudos! wow ;;w;;


	3. Vidjagames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I'll do Jer's point of view whenever needed c:
> 
> Thanks for waiting yall

“Smackdown!”

Jeremy’s attention bolted back from wherever it was to the screen in front of him, thumbs automatically smashing the controller in his hands trying to get his player back up. He glanced over at Michael’s grinning face, John Cena on screen clipping through the referee npc.

“You’re only winning this because we don’t usually play xbox Mi-chael,” he pouted, watching The Rock glitch on the floor long enough for Cena to smash a chair over his head, taking him down for the count.

“It’s for the memes Jer, we went over this,” Michael responded, maneuvering Cena to pin The Rock down.

“One, Two, Three...and the winner is….JOHN CENA--BA BADA DAWWMMM!” Michael hollered, throwing his hands up in victory. He stood up, patting Jeremy on the back.

“I’m gonna go get us some snacks, ok Jer?” He chuckled. “You can practice your pro wrestling skills if you want.”

Jeremy leaned back on the beanbag he was on, tensing up for a second before remembering the Squip had no power over him anymore. He dropped his hands onto his chest, sighing as he snuggled into the nylon material. It didn’t feel like a very meme-ish night to him, if he was honest. It felt kind of...outdated? Stupid for a retro aficionado to say, he knew, but it felt like he was scrolling through a LOLcats archive in 2017. It was the wrong kind of old.

Michael was taking forever with the snacks. Jeremy glanced at the empty beanbag, then to the tv, where John Cena was wrestling the Undertaker. It was probably one of those screensaver cutscenes, the ones that played when you didn’t touch the controller for a while, he thought. He glanced back towards the basement door, and saw…

Michael. Michael, brow furrowed, thumbs moving with a life of their own. Michael, with a crumb on the corner of his mouth, mamon packets littered in the space between them, with one set slightly apart from the rest, closer to Jeremy, with a bottle of Mountain Dew.

If he hadn’t been startled by his sudden appearance, Jeremy would have probably thought it was beautiful. As it was… well, shock overcame the beauty of it.

Michael looked over, pausing the game.

“Welcome back,” he smiled, leaning closer to Jeremy. Jeremy smiled a more worried smile back.

“Hey...do you mind if we just hang out?” Jeremy asked, opening up one of the wrapped cakes.

“Yeah! Totally bro, what do ya wanna talk about?”

“What was that thing about Avril Lavigne again?”

Michael immediately launched into his tirade about the Avril Lavigne conspiracy, and Jeremy listened, interjecting with other examples that only fueled Michael’s fire.

Everything felt normal.

Everything was fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter wasn't betad bc i finished this 5 minuted before posting and its 1:36 am in AJ's timezone ;w;
> 
> thanks for the nice comments and kudos, it means the world to me


	4. anuzzer day in bikini bottom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update, i was (as you'll probably tell) gonna post this last week but c'est la vie

“Jeremy!” Michael ran up to the taller boy, breathless. He stopped just before reaching him, catching his breath as the other turned around in mild alarm.

“Michael! What happened?”

“Linkin Park,” Michael breathed, regaining composure.

“Oh. That guy that died, right?” Jeremy scratched the back of his head

“Don't give me that look, we were both into Linkin Park and you know it,”

“No, yeah! But… wow…another part of our childhood gone, you know?” 

“Yeah, it sucks.” Kind of makes you think about who else you could lose in an blink of an eye, Michael thought.

Both boys stayed silent, a thick air settling between them.

“We'll uh. Can we meet up after school?” Jeremy spoke up  
“Don't you have other friends you'd rather hang out with?” Michael hadn't meant to sound so harsh, and the look on Jeremy’s face immediately made him regret what he said.

“I- I mean yeah of course! You know I’m always free to hang out Jeremy,” he stammered out. “Apocalypse of the Damned at your place?”

Jeremy looked pensive. “Actually, I was thinking your basement,” he looked down. “I kinda want to just chill for a bit..”

“No video games?” Michael started, incredulous. “Ok, what's wrong?”

Jeremy started to answer, but the first word was drowned out by the sound of the bell. He shook his head and smiled.

“I'll tell you later. It's uh,” he checked his phone. “It's a short day today, so I'll see you in a few hours I guess.”

In class, Michael wondered about Jeremy. Was he getting bored of video games? He hadn't seemed too fond of them on Friday, either. Had the Squip irreversibly changed part of Jeremy's personality? How long until he got bored of him, too?

He did a lot of existential thinking in Chemistry class, he realized. That probably wouldn't be too good for his grade.

He did a lot of obsessing over Jeremy, too. Who would want a friend like that?

Michael groaned, laying his head on his desk. It would probably be better for both of them if he just concentrated on the stoichiometry worksheet in front of him. He could figure out a plan later.

 

English class had assigned an essay about ‘a dark time in their life’, and Michael was thinking about it as he shuffled out of the classroom. It would be pretty easy, all he had to do is stay away from personal topics and hyperbolize the time his fish died or something.

Jeremy was waiting for him, leaning against his locker in an almost artificial calm. Michael shrugged off the worry balling in the pit of his stomach, hitting the taller boy’s shoulder instead.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight?” he asked, settling into their familiar pace.

“Well I wasn’t sure..b-but I was thinking, so I was in class right, and I had no idea what the teacher was saying-- I swear he speaks a different language sometimes…” Jeremy shook his head. “So anyway we have a quiz tomorrow that I know I won't pass so I thought: to hell with it! Let's stay up late for no other reason than to really mess up tomorrow.” He threw his hands up with a breathy laughed, looking at Michael.  
“So, you in?”

Michael thought about it. Spend all night with his best friend? Two sleep-deprived angsty teenagers in a dark, cramped room?

“Yeah,” What could possibly go wrong?

“Great! Christine was telling me about Buzzfeed Unsolved-”

“Are you still dating her?”

“Wuh-?”

“Christine. Are you still-- nevermind.” Jeremy’s change in attitude told Michael everything he needed to know. He could always press later.

For now, he had to focus on getting his friend out of slump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me? have a predictable story structure? n e v e r 
> 
> c ya next week i hope!

**Author's Note:**

> hey gaymers don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe!
> 
> my tumblr's @cloudglitches if ya wanna chat or suggest stuff  
> Beta'd by my qpp AJ, hit em' up sjtouo here or @touo on tumblr with love and praise for dealing with my nonsense 0:
> 
> Peace!


End file.
